a.      X 


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I 


1865.]  QUEEN    CANDACE.  265 

Our  final  question  is  about  the  quantity  of  the  penult  in  the 
word  KavSamf)  and  it  is  a  question  of  practical  interest, 
since  a  ship  Candace  is  traversing  the  ocean.  And  on  this 
question  we  must,  first  of  all,  hold  fast  the  position  that  the 
original  mime  is  lost.  It  is  certainly  not  Ethiopic  ;  it  occurs  in 
the  Abyssinian,  but  this,  as  Prof.  Dillmann  testifies,  only 
proves  tha\  the  Abyssinians  knew  the  name  which  they  took 
from  the  New  Testament.  They  write  it  sometime  Chendake, 
sometimes  Ghendeke,  and  again  Chendeke  :  "just  as  foreign 
words  are  generally  diversely  spoken  and  written."  "  It  can- 
not," says  Pillraann,  "  be  at  all  explained  from  the  Ethiopic,  or 
from  the  Semitic  tongues."  The  same  learned  writer  assures 
us.  that  the  language  of  Meroe'  is  lost.  We  may  then  well  as- 
sume that  the  same  is  the  case  with  the  language  of  Nepata 
and  the  kingdom  of  Candace.  which  bordered  on  Meroe. 

We  are,  then,  in  reference  to  the  name  Katjddu/j,  restrict- 
ed to  the  laws  of  quantity  in  the  Greek  language.  These 
laws  decidedly  favor  the  view  that  the  penult  syllable  is 
short. 

Fran/,  Passow,  in  his  Doctrine  of  Quantity  in  the  Greek 
Language,  says  :  "  1.  axis,  contracted  am,  as  the  ending  of 
the  numeral  adverbs,  always  has  the  a  short,  e.g.  Terpanir, 
7toXXccKii.  The  accent  itself  implies  this,  for  else  we  must 
write  rtoWaxic.  2.  The  adjective  ending  axoi,  any,  anor, 
has  short  a  :  thus  in  paXaur),  fiifiXitxHi),  Srfpiaxr}"  This 
alone,  it  seems  to  me,  were  enough  to  show  that  the  word  is 
to  be  spoken  with  the  accent  on  the  first  syllable  Yet  we 
can  also  refer  to  the  substantives  cpvXam),  aHivanip.  The 
question  would  of  course  be  decided  by  a  line  from  the  poets  ; 
but  such  an  one  I  have  not  been  able  to  find.  For  the  verses 
from  Tzetzes,  cited  above,  are  not  to  be  read  by  the  quantity 
but  by  the  accent  ;  and  though  KavSam/v  has  there  the  tone 
in  the  penult,  this  is  as  little  proof  that  a  is  long,  as  in  the 
directly  following  diaypdcpeiv,  where,  too,  the  a  of  the  pe- 
nult, though  short,  has  the  tone.  Accordingly  one  who  reads 
the  Greek  by  the  accent,  will  say  KavSdxrf,  as  he  does 
nsrsXoTTi/,  2ooK/j(yT>/?,  ApiffTOTiXf??,  that  is,  with  a  short, 
though  accented  penultimate.  But  in  German  [and  English  ] 
whoever  says  Candace,  must  also  say  Penelope,  Socrates, 
Aristoteles. 

The  sum  of  our  view,  then,  is  this  ;  that  the  queen  Candace 
(mentioned  in  Acts  viii.  27),  1.  was  so  called  as  a  proper 
name,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Ptolemies,  and  not  as  a  title,  like 
Pharaoh  ;  2.  That  the  name  Candace,  from  the  Latin  forms, 
has  the  penult  a  short;  3.  That  the   word  Kavd&Krj  can  not 


^Wmo^  THE 

NOV  11  1932^  M  E  HI  C  ^  N 

-^SBYTERIAN  AND  THEOLOGICAL 

REVIEW. 


NEW  SERIES.    NO.  X.-APRIL,  1865. 


VI— THE  HYMNS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 
By  Henry  Hakbauch,  D.  D.,  Prof,  of  Didactic  Theology,  at  Mercersburg,  Pa. 


Art. 


The  Hymn,  as  a  part  of  Christian  Cultus,  is  properly  a  lit- 
urgical form.  The  Hymn  Book,  and — when  prepared  forms 
of  prayer  are  used — the  Liturgy  are  properly,  not  two,  but  one 
book.  In  any  case,  the  hymns  and  prayers  of  the  Church  are 
coordinate  in  nature  and  character.  As  the  prayer  that  flows 
from  the  heart  and  lips  of  the  minister  becomes  the  means  and 
channel  through  which  the  worshipping  congregation  presents 
its  own  devout  offerings  to  God,  so  the  Hymn  is  in  like  man- 
ner prepared  and  used  as  the  means  of  at  once  inspiring,  em- 
bodying and  helping  to  present  their  devotions  before  the 
throne  of  grace. 

Thus  the  Hvmn  occupies  an  important  place  in  the  public 
service  of  God.  Its  use  has  been  recognized  as  an  acceptable 
part  of  divine  worship,  both  in  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
New  ;  and  it  has  endeared  itself  to  the  Christian  mind,  by  the 
edification  and  comfort  it  has  furnished,  in  all  ages  of  the 
Church.  Ail  that  pertains  to  the  Hymns  of  the  Church  well 
deserves  the  attention  and  study  of  every  pastor  who  desires 
rightly  to  conduct  the  public  worship  of  the  sanctuary. 

Hymn-forms,  like  creed-forms,  have  a  historical  develop- 
ment. The  peculiar  formulas  of  Creeds,  in  which  the  Church 
presents  its  faith,  as  is  well  known  from  Church  History, 
have  assumed  their  true  form  and  fixed  use  through  a  process. 
Every  prominent  word,  and  every  phrase,  has  been  borne  as 
a  standard  through  a  more  or  less  severe  and  protracted  bat- 
tle. It  has  been  only  after  such  a  process,  that  creed-formu- 
las have  attained  authoritative  form.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
form  and  language  of  prayer.  Whether  extemporaneous  or 
liturgical,  there  are  words  and  phrases  which  are  devotional, 


1865.]  THE    HYMNS    OP   THE    CHURCH.  2G7 

and  others  which  are  not.  Devout  formulas  have  grown  up 
gradually  in  the  pious  life  of  the  Church,  and  have  come  to 
their  present  sai-red  honor  and  use  in  a  historical  or  tradition- 
ary way.  It  will  always  be  found  that  his  prayers  best  suit 
and  inspire  the  devotions  of  others,  who  has  most  extensively 
mastered  and  most  deeply  appropriated  what  has  come  down 
through  the  ages  as  the  sacred  and  spiritually  savored  style 
and  form  of  truly  devotional  thought  and  feeling.  In  like 
manner,  and  under  the  power  of  the  same  law,  have  hymn- 
forms,  their  history  and  development. 

Sacred  songs,  in  some  form,  for  purposes  of  divine  worship, 
are  coeval  with  the  history  of  religion.  Forms  of  this  kind, 
as  first-fruits  of  the  inspirations  of  piety,  existed  in  the  earli- 
est ages  of  Judaism  ;  and  the  Jewish  church  gradually  creat- 
ed for  itself  rich  treasures  of  sacred  song,  which  lie  scattered 
as  gems  throughout  the  Old  Testament,  and  are  specially  col- 
lected in  the  Book  of  Psalms. 

In  our  Saviour's  time,  the  Old  Testament  Psalms  were  used 
in  public  worship,  whilst  with  the  inauguration  of  Christiani- 
ty, others  were  produced,  more  directly  out  of  the  spirit  of 
the  new  economy.  The  supposition  is  very  natural,  that 
those  precious  hymns  preserved  in  the  gospel,  the  Hymn  of 
the  Virgin  Mary,  (St.  Luke.  i.  46-55.)  the  Hymn  of  Zacharias, 
(St.  Luke,  i.  68-79.)  and  the  Hymn  of  Simeon,  (St.  Luke,  ii. 
20-32)  may  have  been  sung  in  our  Saviour's  immediate  spirit- 
ual family.  That  they  were  preserved  by  them,  seems  evi- 
dent from  the  fact  that  they  were  subsequently  embodied  in 
the  Gospel. 

Other  hymnal  compositions,  besides  the  Old  Testament 
Psalms  and  those  preserved  by  St.  Luke,  were  evidently  pre- 
served and  used  in  the  Apostolic  Church.  Fragments  of 
these,  at  least,  are  supposed  to  be  embodied  in  such  passages 
as  I  Tim.  iii,  18,  II  Tim.  ii,  11,  James  i,  17,  and  especially 
Eph.  v,  14,  which  passage — 

Awake,  thou  that  sleepest, 

And  arise  from  the  dead. 

And  Christ  shall  give  thee  light. 

— is  introduced  by  the  words,  "  Wherefore  he  saith  ;"  and  yet. 
the  passage  is  no  quotation  from  any  part  of  the  Scriptures. 
Similar  parts  of  primitive  hymns  are  supposed  to  be  found 
in  Rev.  i,  4--8  ;  v,  9--14  ;  xi.  15-19;  xv,  3.  sq:  xxi,  1-8: 
xii,  10-17.  20.  Besides,  St.  Paul  directly  refers  to  psalms, 
and  hymns,  and  spiritual  songs  as  existing  among  the  saints 
at  Ephesus  and  Colosse.  and  exhorts  them  to  use  these  for 
their  mutual  edification,  (Eph.  v,  19,  Col.  iii,  16.) 


268  THE   HYMNS    OF   THE   CHURCH.  [April, 

The  Greek  Church  was  first  and  most  prominent  in  the 
production  of  regular  hymns,  as  distinguished  from  inspired 
scriptural  compositions.  These  were  first  in  the  form  of  dox- 
olo;;ies  and  brief  ascriptions  of  praise  to  Jesus  Christ  and  the 
Holy  Trinity.  The  nucleus  of  the  Gloria  in  Excehis,  or  An- 
gelic Hymn,  the  most  ancient  and  complete  of  hymns,  and 
which  attained  its  present  final  form  in  the  fourth  century,  is 
also  found  at  an  earlier  period.  Prom  the  Greek  Church*  we 
have  also  the  Te  Deum,  which  dates  from  the  fifth  century, 
afterwards  by  St.  Ambrose  translated  into  Latin,  and  some- 
what enlarged. 

The  history  of  Latin  hymnody  begins  in  the  fourth  century. 
Quite  a  number  of  the  Latin  fathers  of  the  mediaeval  church, 
whose  names  are  theologicallv  familiar,  composed  hymns  : — 
as  St.  Ambrose  t396  ;  St.  Hilary,  of  Poitiers,  t3G8,  who 
translated  the  Gloria  in  Excelsis  into  Latin,  and  to  whom 
some  ascribe  the  completion  of  it  in  its  present  form  ;  Pruden- 
tius  1600  ;  Notker  t912  ;  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  tll53  ; 
Thomas  of  Celano,  about  11250,  to  whom  the  Dies  Irce  is  as- 
cribed ;  Bonaventura  fl274 ;  Thomas  Aquinas  tl274,  and 
Benedictus  tl30G,  with  others  less  prominent.  Many  of  their 
hymns  came  down  to  the  later  church,  and  have  formed  the 
basis  of  some  of  the  very  best  hymns  of  the  Reformation  pe- 
riod, and  since.  Of  the  thirty-seven  hymns  written  by  Lu- 
ther, there  are  only  six  purely  new  ;  the  rest  were  all  based 
on  psalms,  Bible  passages,  or  mediaeval  hymns. 

The  Reformation,  as  a  vigorous  outburst  of  the  Christian 
life,  gave  a  powerful  impulse  to  hymn-writing.  While  the 
fifteen  centuries  before  the  Reformation  produced  not  over 
one  thousand  hymns,  the  three  hundred  years  since  the  Re- 
formation have,  in  the  German  language  alone,  produced,  ac- 
cording to  Dr.  Alt,  about  eighty  thousand.  Dr.  Phelps  sets 
down  the  number  of  English  hymns  at  thirty  thousand.  Oth- 
er languages  also  contain  large  numbers. 

Rationalism,  in  Germany,  and  Naturalism,  in  England,  did 
much,  not  only  to  corrupt  the  true  hymnological  taste,  by 
producing  a  large  number  of  merely  didactic  and  moral 
hymns,  but  also  by  eviscerating  many  of  the  old  anointed 
hymns  of  their  truly  Christian  contents,  and  changing  them 
so  that,  they  might  chime  in  with  their  own  specious  infidelity. 
The  pietistic  movement,  in  Germany,  and  kindred  movements 
in  England,  whilst  they  have  produced  some  hymns  of  high 
inspiration,  tended  to  turn  the  hymnological  taste  too  much 
into  a  subjective  and  sentimental  channel,  having  weakened 
the  nerves  of  faith  by  unduly  cultivating  the  mere  devotional 


1865.]  THE   HYMNS   OF   THE   CHURCH.  269 

nature,  thus  furnishing:  the  people  rather  what  they  wished  than 
what  they  needed.  We  venture  the  opinion  that  this  is  the 
radical  defect  which  characterizes  the  hymns  which  the 
church,  in  our  own  country,  has,  during  the  last  several  dec- 
ades, been  producing  in  connexion  with  a  certain  peculiar 
style  of  popular  music. 

The  vast  amount  of  hymnological  matter  which  the  history 
of  the  church  has  accumulated,  and  the  foreign  element 
which  has  infused  itself  into  a  large  portion  of  this  class  of 
compositions,  has  made  the  creation  of  a  hymnological  science 
necessary  ;  so  that  by  such  tests  as  the  true  idea  of  Christian- 
ity and  the  true  spirit  of  Christian  worship  furnish,  the  chaff 
may  be  separated  from  the  wheat.  It  is  the  office  of  this 
science  to  sit-in  judgment  on  the  products  of  the  sacred  po- 
ets ;  to  examine  the  hymnological  material  scientifically,  and 
to  give  it  historical,  critical  and  systematic  presentation. 
The  science,  as  a  part  of  practical  theology,  is  comparatively 
new,  but  has,  in  the  last  two  decades,  been  earnestly  and  suc- 
cessfully furthered,  especially  by  German  divines,  and  it  now 
stands  in  its  place,  in  all  German  systems  of  practical  theolo- 
gy, in  the  same  way  ns  homiletics.  catechetics,  liturgies,  and 
poimenics  or  pastoral  theology.  Scientific  hymnological  in- 
quiries received  special  impulse  from  Schleiermacher,  who 
gave  a  deeper  and  wider  foundation  to  the  science  of  practi- 
cal theology,  which  has  caused  the  fact  to  be  more  deeply  felt, 
that  hymnody  constitutes  an  essential  part  of  the  public  wor- 
ship of  the  sanctuary.  Besides  large  collections  of  hymns, 
there  have  appeared  histories  of  hymnody,  biographies  of  the 
authors  of  hymns,  as  well  as  various  attempts  to  form  and  per- 
fect the  science  of  hymnology.*  In  this  last  department  none 
have  rendered  better  service  to  the  church  than  Lange  and 
Palmer. 

The  subject  of  hymnology  has  during  eight  years  attracted 
new*  and  increased  attention  also  in  this  country.  Works 
which,  though  not  designed  to  be  scientific  treatices  on  hymn- 
ology, are  yet  more  or  less  related  to  the  general  subject,  as 
that  of  Dr.  Belcher's  on  the  Authors  of  Hymns,  "  Hymns 
and  Choirs"  jointly  by  Prof's.  Phelps  and  Park  of  Andover, 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Furber  of  Newton,  have  appeared 
as  at  once  signs  and  preparatory"  labors  in  this  interesting 
department.  As  an  evidence  of  the  general  want  that  is 
felt  to  exist  in  the  present  hymnological  status  may  also  be 


*  See  notices  of  these  various  works  in  Herzog's  Real  Encyclopedia  Vol.  VI- 
pp.  350  354. 


270  THE   HYMNS   OF   THE   CHUliCH.  [April, 

mentioned  the  fact  that  almost  all  the  prominent  denomina- 
tions in  the  land  have  lately  published,  or  are  present  engaged 
in  producing  new  hymn  books.  Not  merely  new  collections, 
nor  ryet  larger  collections,  are  to  be  desired  ;  rather  collec- 
tions smaller  if  need  be,  but  made  with  a  deeper  knowledge 
of  what  constitutes  the  true  nature  of  a  hymn  suitable  for 
use  in  public  worship. 

This  general  want  is  itself  beyond  doubt  the  growth  of  a 
newly  awakened  interest,  in  the  question  as  to  what  consti- 
tutes the  true  nature  of  worship.  It  begins  to  be  more 
clearly  seen,  and  more  deeply  felt,  that  Christian  worship 
does  not  consist  in  mere  sentiment,  self-awakened  and  vaguely 
exercised  by  subjective  endeavors,  but  rather  in  a  steady, 
solemn  self-surrender,  and  the  offering  of  our  whole  being  ro 
the  Triune  God  ;  that  true  Christian  worship  is  not  "  will- 
worship,"  but  a  worship  called  forth  by  a  gracious  power 
exerted  upon  our  faith  by  the  true  objects  of  Christian  wor- 
ship and  love — God  the  Father,  Jesus  Christ  the  Son,  the 
Holy  Ghost  the  Comforter  ;  by  the  glorious  facts  of  redemp- 
tion— the  birth,  sufferings,  death,  resurrection,  ascension. 
intercession,  and  reigning  of  Jesus  Christ  ;  by  the  person  and 
work  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  and  by  the  church,  with  its  holy 
sacraments  and  motherly  nurture.  As  the  genial  heavens 
above,  and  the  gladdening  earth  around,  call  forth  the  springing 
of  herbs,  the  bloom  of  flowers,  and  the  songs  of  birds,  so  does 
this  glorious,  spiritual  firmament  of  divine  facts,  acts,  sacra- 
ments, ordinances,  and  gracious  supernatural  powers,  over  and 
around  us  in  the  church,  evoke  from  faith  the  true  form  and 
spirit  of  worship.  The  earth  is  bright,  warm,  and  wakeful 
when  it  is  shone  upon  ;  in  like  manner  is  the  Christian  heart 
lively  with  the  spirit  of  worship,  when  the  divine  and  heav- 
enly, as  revealed  in  Christ,  and  still  present  in  the  Church, 
are  in  its  cultus  made  present  also  to  the  consciousness  of 
faith.  To  be  apprehended  by  these,  and  to  apprehend  them 
in  turn,  and  yield  to  their  power,  is  to  have  the  true  position 
of  a  worshipper. 

A  re-discussion  of  the  nature  of  Christian  worship  has  led 
the  mind  of  the  church  to  a  new  interest  in  all  that  pertains  to  it, 
in  all  its  elements  and  relations.  Such  discussion  begins,  of 
course,  with  the  inward  and  central — as  the  person  and  work 
of  Christ  and  the  Spirit,  the  nature  of  the  church,  the  sacra- 
ments and  ordinances  ;  but  by  logical  necessity  it  must  extend 
also  to  matters  more  outward,  such  as  Christian  architecture, 
church  music,  symbols  of  faith,  liturgies,  and  hymn-books. 
Hence,  all  these  subjects  are  at  the  present  time  receiving  un- 
usual attention,  and  especially  that  of  hymnology. 


1865.]  THE   HYMNS   OF   THE   CHURCH.  271 

Of  the  one  thousand  hymns  produced  by  the  church  prior 
to  the  Reformation,  it  is  reckoned,  by  critics,  that  not  over 
one  hundred  and  fifty  can  bear  the  test  of  the  true  hymn,  ami, 
in  fact,  only  about  that  number  have  attained  to  classical  hon- 
or. It  is  the  expressed  opinion  of  German  hymnodists,  that 
of  the  eighty  thousand  extant  in  their  language,  not  over  two 
hundred  are  classical,  and  have  come  into  any  kind  of  general 
approved  use.  Though  there  are  in  the  English  language 
thirty  thousand  hymns,  a  truly  critical  sifting  of  them  would 
no  doubt  show  that  Prof.  Edwards  was  correct  when  he  gave 
it  as  his  judgment  that  "  two  or  three  hundred  of  the  most 
excellent  songs  of  Zion,  would  include  all  our  psalms  and 
hymns  which  are  of  sterling  value  for  the  sanctuary."'  We 
fear  that  even  this  estimate  is  too  high  ;  for  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  not  every  poetical  composition  which  has  become  a 
favorite  with  this  or  that  Christian,  can  be  regarded  as  a  true 
hymn.  Some  particular  circumstance,  some  event  or  experi- 
ence may  endear  a  particular  hymn  to  one  when  it  has  no  such 
attraction  for  another.  Besides,  individual  taste  can  not  be 
allowed  to  pronounce  final  judgment  on  a  hymn  ;  individual 
tastes  may  be  very  much  at  fault  in  regard  to  its  true  merits 
as  a  hymn,  and  it  is  the  province  of  hymnological  science  to 
correct  such  taste— to  bring  the  church  to  furnish  to  its  mem- 
bers, not  such  hymns  as  may  please  their  own  natural  private 
capricious  fancies,  but  such  as  they  ought  to  sing,  and  such  as 
when  properly  led  and  instructed  they  will  love. 

What  is  a  true  hymn  ? 

1.  The  hymn  differs  from  some  other  sacred  compositions. 
St.  Paul  mentions  three  kinds  as  suitable  for  devotional  use — 
psalms,  hymns,  and  spiritual  songs,  or  odes  (cadaiS  nvevjxan- 
nah).     Eph.  v.  19  ;  Col.  iii.  16. 

The  psalm  is  a  composition  produced  in  the  earlier  stage  of 
religious  and  scientific  development,  and  in  it,  therefore,  the 
free  flow  of  religious  feeling,  in  the  determination  of  its  form, 
prevails  over  the  artistical.  Psalms  are  historico-poetical  ;  they 
celebrate  divine  acts,  and  rehearse  sacred  events  connected  with 
the  gracious  dealings  of  God  with  his  people.  They  are 
historically  objective  in  their  character,  allied  to  the  epic. 
When  they  express  the  subjective  pious  sense  of  the  author,  it 
is  mostly  as  this  is  awakened  and  enlivened  and  called  forth 
into  utterance  by  a  grateful  review  of  objective  historical 
divine  acts  and  events. 

The  hymn  grows  out  of  the  subjective  pious  general 
consciousness  to  which  its  author  as  the  organ  of  this  conscious- 
ness, gives  objective  form  and  representation.     If  the  psalm 


272  THE   HYMNS   OF   THE   CHURCH.  [April, 

celebrates  what  God  has  done,  is  doing,  and  still  promises  to 
do  for  his  church  and  people,  the  hymn  expresses  what  the 
church  feels  and  experiences  in  consequence  of  such  merciful 
love.  The  hymn,  however,  while  it  grows  forth  from  the  sub- 
jective pious  consciousness,  does  not  embody  merely  the  sub- 
jectivity of  the  individaal  author,  but  what  it  expresses  is  the 
consciousness  of  the  church  in  its  universal  character.  This 
gives  the  hymn  at  last  a  truly  objective  character,  which 
constitutes  the  fundamental  difference  between  it  and  the 
spiritual  song. 

The  spiritual  song  or  ode,  expresses  the  subjective  feeling 
of  the  individual,  and  represents  the  individual  consciousness 
of  the  author  at  the  time,  and  in  the  particular  mood  and 
frame  which  controlled  him  in  its  composition  ;  it  is,  therefore, 
adapted  to  other  individuals  in  the  same  mood  and  frame. 
Spiritual  songs  are  the  hymnings  of  the  heart  in  its  own  per- 
gonal exercises,  agreeably  to  its  own  peculiar  tastes  and  experi- 
ences, and  in  its  own  hours  of  meditative  devotion.  They  ex- 
press privately  and  for  the  individual  Christian's  edification 
what  cannot  be  presumed  to  be  general  in  a  public  service  of 
the  church.  If  suitable  at  all  beyond  such  individual  use,  it  is 
only  in  small,  familiar,  confidential  circles,  where  mutuality 
of  feeling  may  be  certainly  taken  for  granted. 

Though  characteristically  distinguished,  as  we  have  shown, 
these  three  kinds  of  sacred  composition,  are  not  in  such  way 
distinct  and  separated  from  each  other  as  to  have  nothing 
in  common.  They  contain  allied  features,  and  the  elements  of 
one  may  enter  more  or  less  into  and  modify  the  others.  Speaking 
of  these  three  kinds  of  sacred  lyrical  compositions  as  having 
been  in  use  in  the  apostolic  church,  according  to  Eph.  v.  18, 
19,  Dr.  Lange  furnishes  the  following  criticism  on  their  unity  and 
difference.  "  The  psalms  were  the  religious  songs  which  had 
come  down  to  them  ;  hymns  and  odes,  as  to  their  form,  were 
also  at  hand,  but  the  Christian  spirit  was  made  to  constitute 
their  substance.  The  psalm  may  be  regarded  as  a  primitive 
form  which  comprehends  in  one,  as  well  the  substance  of  the 
hymn  as  of  the  ode.  The  psalm  is  a  hymn,  a  festive  song,  a 
word  of  revelation,  an  oracle  utterance,  so  far  as  it  proclaims 
the  divine  teaching,  the  right,  the  truth,  the  praise  of  God,  in 
the  festive  frame  of  one  inspired  ;  but  it  is  an  ode,  a  song,  a 
rhythmical  effusion  of  the  heart,  so  far  as  the  inspired  one, 
in  making  his  utterance,  rocks  on  the  waves  of  sound,  balanc- 
ing himself  with  winged  skill.  That  the  hymn  expresses  more 
the  objective  doctrine,  the  ode  more  the  subjective  of  elevated 
feeling,  in  a  poetical  form,  is  clearly  seen  as  well  from  the 


1865.]  THE   HYMNS   OP   THE    CHURCH.  273 

etymology  of  both  words,  as  from  the  forms  of  poetry  indicated 
by  them  ;  and  we  must  not  suffer  ourselves  to  be  misled  as  to 
this  distinction,  by  the  cool  spirit  of  some  odes  of  Horace  and 
Klopstock.     The  measured  movement  characterizes  the  more 
objective  nature  of  the  hymn  :  the  winged  form  indicates  the 
character  of  the  ode — a  beautiful  melodious  warble,  which 
expresses  itself  in  the  life  of  metre.     The  psalm,  as  capable 
of  including  the  ode  and  the  hymn  in  its  contents  and  its 
form,  expresses  the  essence  of  both  ;  at  one  time,  however,  it 
approaches  more  the  measured  nature  of  the  hymn,  at  another 
more  the  variability  of  the  ode.     In  the  sphere  of  Hebrew- 
life,  the  psalm  did  not  come  to  unfold  fully  and  purely  both 
the  elements  which  lay  in  it,  because,  with  the  Hebrews,  the 
religious  interest  prevailed  over  the  artistic  ;  Christianity,  on 
the  other  hand,  entering  the  sphere  of  Grecian  culture  which 
had  developed  the  form  of  the  ode  and  the  hymn,  poured  its 
festive  spirit  into  both  forms.     Gradually,  however,  it  brought 
the  separated  forms  together  again  in  a  higher  unity  when  it 
constructed  the  church-hymn.     Thus  the  church-hymn  is  the 
psalm  completed  in  the  spirit  of  the  New  Testament,  in  which 
the  hymn  and  the  ode  have  again  become  one.     The  affinity 
of  the  church-hymn  and  the  psalm  is  seen  in  the  reigning  of 
the  religious  principle  ;  the  difference  between  it  and  the 
psalm  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  the  religious  principle  has 
become  one  with  the  perfected  jesthetical  form.     The  hymn 
is  known  by  the  measured,  solemn  form  of  the  verse,  the  ode 
by  the  variety  and  liveliness,  the  rhythmical  and  musical  nature 
of  its  verse.     Moreover,  this  unity  had  to  be  reached,  because 
in  Christianity  the  powers  from  above,  do  not,  as  Chrysostom 
asserts,  form   merely  hymns,  but  also  reveal  themselves  in 
psalm-songs,  for  as  much  as  they  become  flesh  like  the  eternal 
Word  itself,  and  because  the  human  powers,  which  indeed  rise 
as   on  the  wings   of  the   ode,  are   illumined   and  tempered 
through  the  peace  of  the  divine  spirit.     For  a  time  these 
forms  could  stand  in  force  side  by  side.     Thus,  in  the  speak- 
ing with  tongues  in  the  church  at  Jerusalem,  the  essence  of 
the  hymn  was  predominant ;  they  spake  of  the  wonderful  works 
of  God  ;  they  spake  in  a  way  intelligible  to  the  people  of 
various  dialects.  (Acts  ii.)     In   Corinth,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  form  of  the  ode  prevailed  ;  the  enthusiastic  Christians 
spoke  confusedly  in  soaring,  dark  effusions  of  feeling  ;  they 
required  interpreters  ;  they  were  obscure  to  many  of  their 
own  companions,  to  say  nothing  of  strangers  (Cor.  xiv.  23)  ; 
yea,  this   inspirited   life   in   its   degeneracy,  seems   to   have 
approached  the  dithyrambus.     Just  as  a  didactic  poem,  whose 


274  THE   HYMNS   OP  THE   CHURCH.  [April, 

shortest  form  is  the  Gnome,  may  be  regarded  as  the  boundary 
of  the  hymn,  so  the  dithyrambus  is  the  boundary  of  the  ode. 
In  the  hymn  the  subjective  life  is  caught  up  into  the  serene 
ether  of  festive  contemplation  ;  the  divine  predominates  ;  but 
then  also  in  the  didactic  poem  the  human  is  entirely  excluded, 
and  by  this  means  also  the  lyric  life  of  the  poem.  In  the  ode, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  divine  life  is  drawn  into  the  blessed, 
joyful  emotional  exercise  of  the  feelings  ;  the  human  predomi- 
nates. In  the  dithyrambus,  finally,  man  seeks  violently  to 
draw  the  divine  into  his  own  wild,  sensuous  inspiration  ;  but 
the  divine,  agreeably  to  the  holiness  and  power  of  its  own 
nature,  firmly  refuses  to  be  so  drawn  into  a  sphere  foreign  to 
itself.  The  pure  church-hymn  has  excluded  all  that  is  dithv- 
rambic  through  the  light  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  all  that  is 
gnomical  through  the  lively  affection  of  the  human  spirit  ; 
yea,  it  has  abolished  the  antitheses  of  ode  and  hymn  itself  in 
the  harmony  of  its  divine-human  nature  and  character,  even 
though  it  belongs  to  the  revelation  of  its  richness,  that  in 
some  single  productions  the  character  of  the  ode,  in  others, 
that  of  the  hymn,  should  be  more  predominant  f 

2.  As  regards  its  substance,  the  true  hymn  must  be  based 
on,  and  centre  in  the  great  facts  of  redemption — those 
namely,  which  constitute  the  basis  of  the  Apostles'  Creed — 
the  love  of  God  the  Father,  and  His  work  in  creation  and 
redemption  ;  the  grace  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  it  appears  in  His 
birth,  passion,  death,  resurrection,  ascension,  and  reign  in 
heaven  ;  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost  through,  his  vari- 
ous offices  in  the  church  ;  and  the  communion  of  saints,  the 
festive  joys  and  hopes  of  the  new  life  in  Christ  Jesus,  as  it  is 
now  and  shall  continue  forever  in  the  ineffable  joys  of  heaven. 

That  the  substance  of  the  true  hymn  must  be  based  on 
/acts,  not  ideas  merely,  is  illustrated  by  reference  to  an  analo- 
gous case.  What  constitutes  a  national  song?  Not  a  descrip- 
tion of  patriotism.  Not  an  ode  on  any  great  principle  or 
policy  of  government.  It  must  centre  in  some  sacred  thing  : 
as  "  The  Star-Spangled  Banner  ;"  "  Rally  Round  the  Flag  :"' 
"  The  Red,  White  and  Blue."  It  must  celebrate  some  /act. 
event,  or  name.  Volumes  of  poetry  of  either  character,  fully 
equal  to  it,  yea,  exceeding  it  in  merit  as  poetry,  will  never  be 
married  to  music,  or  touch  the  chords  of  the  national  heart. 
How  few,  among  all  the  lyrics  of  the  present  Avar  for  the 
Union,  has  the  national  heart  accepted  as  the  true  exponents 
of  its  feelings,  purposes,  and  hopes.  Those  which  have 
touched  the  heart  of  the  nation,  and  been  accepted  as  the 
organs  of  its  patriotic  life,  will  all  be  found  to  be  character' 
ized  bv  the  marks  of  the  true  national  sona;  as  indicated. 


1865.]  THE   HYMNS   OP  THE   CHURCH.  275 

The  same  general  criteria  must  be  applied  to  the  true 
hymn.  It  must  be  based  on  great  and  glorious  facts  and 
events,  and  set  forth  the  perennial  life  which  flows  from  them 
as  the  true  life  of  all  human  hopes.  Hence  it  must  not  so 
much  describe  such  events  and  deeds — which  is  rather  the 
province  of  the  psalm — as  reproduce  them,  and  render  them 
present  in  their  life  and  spirit.  It  must  incarnate  them.  It 
mast  make  them  live  in  the  heart,  as  they  once  lived  in  the 
hearts  of  others,  and  are  designed  to  live  in  all  hearts  whom 
they  concern. 

We  know  that  the  very  earliest  sacred  writers  character- 
ized the  first  hymns  of  the  church  as  being  sung  in  honor  of 
the  Holy  Trinity  ;  and  from  them,  as  well  as  from  pagan 
authors,  we  learn  that  they  were  accustomed  to  '"sing  hymns 
to  Christ  as  to  God."  In  a  word,  the  central  substance  of  all 
the  most  ancient  hymns,  inspired  and  uninspired,  is  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  fundamental  fact,  and  absolute  principle  and 
source  of  Christianity,  and  the  Christian  life.  Of  this 
character  are  the  "Magnificat,"  the  "  Benedictus,"  the  ''Nunc 
Dimittis,"  the  "  Trisagion," the  "  Gloria  in  Excelsis,"  the  "  Te 
Deum,"  the  "  Dies  Irae."  As  all  the  prophets  before  He 
appeared,  gave  witness  of  Him,  so  all  the  sacred  hymnodists 
after  him  in  the  early  church  celebrated  him.  It  needs  but 
a  careful  examination  of  them,  to  as-ure  any  one  that  all  the 
truly  classic  mediaeval,  and  more  modern  German  and  English 
hymns,  have  the  same  peculiarity.  The  life  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  itself  the  song  of  songs,  the  hymn  of  hymns,  the  harmony 
of  harmonies  ;  and  a  church-song  as  designed  to  celebrate  His 
life  in  a  gracious  and  festive  spirit,  is  great,  and  true,  and 
glorious,  only  so  far  as  His  life  is  its  spirit  and  light. 

3.  The  true  hymn  must  have  unity — the  unity,  not  of  a  me- 
chanical structure,  but  of  an  organism — a  unity  in  which  the 
uniting  power  is  one  that  acts  from  within — a  unity  in  which 
the  several  parts  are  not  produced  as  by  the  sequence  of 
logical  deduction,  but  grow  forth  according  to  the  logic  or 
laws  of  life.  One  thought  or  life  must  pervade  all  its  parts. 
An  aggregation  of  thoughts,  however  just,  devout,  and  beau- 
tifully expressed,  is  not  sufficient  to  constitute  a  true  hymn. 
It  must  have  a  living  oneness  and  wholeness — the  inspiring, 
invigorating,  illuminating  life  must  be  central  and  generic, 
which  all  the  subordinate  parts  only  serve  to  unfold,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  still  more  fully  to  enliven. 

Our  present  purpose  does  not  contemplate  a  critical  exam- 

1.  Die  Kirchliche  Hynmologie,  von  Dr.  J.  P.  Lange,  Zurich,  1843,  pp.  29-3). 

18 


276  THE    HYMNS    OF   THE    CHURCH.  [April, 

ination  of  particular  hymns  ;  but  let  any  one,  in  the  light  of 
what  has  just  been  said,  examine  any  of  the  earliest  Chris- 
tian hymn-:,  as,  for  instance,  the  Magnificat,  the  Gloria  in  Ex- 
celsis,  or  the  Te  Deuin,  or  even  the  most  classic  of  modern 
hymns.  What,  wonderful  organisms  !  What  intuitive  logic 
of  life  will  be  found  to  underlie  and  pervade  them  !  To  the 
thoughtful  mind  they  are  themselves  sufficient  to  furnish 
overwhelming  evidence  that  Christianity,  which  is  able  to 
raise  the  human  mind  to  the  capacity  of  producing  such 
transcendant  creations,  is  fully  and  fairly  supernatural  and 
superhuman.  The  attempt  of  the  merely  natural  mind  to 
perfect  such  creations,  would  be  precisely  as  preposterous 
and  futile  as  it  would  be  for  an  arborist  to  attempt  the  pro- 
duction of  a  tree!  The  unity  of  these  grand  Hymns  of  the 
Ages  lies  in  no  sense  in  that  "which  is  in  part,"  but  in  that 
sphere  whence  man  himself,  "  trailing  clouds  of  glory,"  origin- 
ally came,  in  which  forever  rests  the  deepest  basis  of  his  true 
life,  and  into  which,  even  before  he  leaves  the  present  sphere 
of  his  being,  the  Christian  spirit,  in  seasons  of  inspired  ec- 
stacy,  in  solemn  hours,  is  caught  up  by  the  festive  spirit  and 
force  of  the  Christian  life. 

The  Christian  poet  does  not  produce  a  hymn  by  calm,  med- 
itative process.  He  does  not  construct  it  by  adding  thought 
to  thought  in  perfectly  self-conscious  calmness,  as  a  joiner  or 
mason  builds  a  house,  by  placing  timber  upon  timber  and 
stone  on  stone.  He  does  not  apprehend  thought,  but  the 
Spi lit  that  apprehends  him  lifts  him  up  by  His  own  inspira- 
tion, and  wrests  it  from  him  by  a  kind  of  spiritual  coup  de 
main.  Hence  it  has  the  unity,  not  of  meditated  logic,  but  of 
the  apprehending  force  which  called  it  forth.  It  has  the  unity 
given  it  by  the  one  inspiring  power.  From  such  a  hymn  no 
part  can  ever  be  left  out  or  seriously  changed.  The  omission 
of  a  single  stanza  would  be  like  the  separation  of  an  eye  or 
an  ear  from  the  human  body.  Hymns  compiled  of  stanzas, 
however  smooth  the)'  may  seem  to  an  unpractised  taste,  will 
ever  have  the  same  fault  as  that  Egyptian  statuary,  in  the 
production  of  which  the  furnishing  of  each  separate  limb  or 
member  was  a  separate  and  special  trade  ! 

4.  The  true  hymn  must  have  high  inspiration— what  the 
Germans  call  schwung.  It  must  have  the  uplifting,  away- 
bearing  power.  As  it  can  only  be  composed  under  the  pres- 
sure of  a  pious  enthusiasm,  when  the  spirit  of  the  sacred 
poet  is  apprehended  by  an  inspiration  beyond  his  ordinary 
state  and  frame,  so  the  same  inspiring  spirit  must  inhere  in  it, 
live  and  breathe  in  it,  producing  again  in  those  who  use  it  the 


1865.]  THE   HYMNS   OP  THE   CHDRCH.  277 

6ame  mood,  state,  and  life,  which  characterized  the  spirit  of 
its  author.  A  true  hymn  has  this  power  latent  in  itself,  and 
communicates  it  whenever  legitimately  used.  It  may  be  dif- 
ficult to  say  precisely  in  what  this  mysterious  virtue  consists. 
We  know,  however,  that  some  hymns  have  it,  while  others, 
that  seem  to  have  equal  merit  as  poetical  compositions,  arc 
destitute  of  it.  It  would  almost  seem  as  if  words  had  the 
power  of  embodying  the  very  life  of  Christianity,  with  the 
additional  capacity  of  communicating  it  perennially.  Thus 
true  hymns  are  always  inspiring. 

5.  The  true  hymn  is  catholic.  It  is  equally  adapted  to  all 
ages,  to  all  lands,  to  all  languages,  to  all  classes  of  Christians, 
to  all  acts  of  worship,  to  all  periods  of  lite — childhood,  youth, 
middle-life,  old  age — and  to  all  branches  of  the  Christian 
church.  Thus  the  Gloria  in  Excelsis,  the  Te  Deum,  the  Dies 
Irae,  suit  alike  in  the  Protestant,  the  Roman,  and  the  Greek 
church.  The  Magnificat,  the  Benedictus,  the  Nunc  Diniit- 
tis,  though  imbued  with  much  of  the  truest  ami  best  Jewish 
life,  are  altogether  Christian  hymns.  Classic  hymns  are  sung 
by  Calvinists  and  Arminians  with  equal  delight.  They  speak 
the  language  of  piety  more  than  of  creed.  Though,  as  in 
truly  liturgical  forms  of  prayer,  doctrine  lies  in  their  nexus, 
it  lies  there  in  the  form  of  life— for  consciousness  more  than 
for  the  mind's  apprehension — and  it  appeals  to  faith  rather 
than  to  knowledge.  A  hymn  that  can  only  appropriately  be 
sung  in  one  particular  denomination  of  Christians,  is  not  a 
true  hymn.  '"  In  the  hymn,"  Herder  has  correctly  said,  "must 
sound  the  language  of  an  universal  confession  of  one  heart 
and  one  faith."  Hence  the  true  hymn  finds  its  place  in  all 
hymn-books.  The  general  consciousness  of  the  church,  by  a 
sovereign  law  of  its  own  catholic  life,  determines  the  true 
hymn,  rejecting  all  that  speak  not  in  its  universal  language, 
and  admitting  all  that  do,  as  the  plastic  life  of  the  plant  re- 
fuses what  is  not  suited  to  its  nature,  and  appropriates  only 
congenial  elements.  Hymns  which  have  tins  catholic  life 
take  their  places  naturally  and  silently  in  the  bosom  of  Chris- 
tian love,  and  go  on  in  their  pious  mission  from  land  to  land, 
and  from  age  to  age,  gathering  a  still  richer  savor  around 
themselves  by  time,  and  are  loved  the  more  because  loved  by 
so  many  and  loved  so  long. 

6.  Thus,  also,  the  true  hymn  never  grows  old,  but  has  the 
freshness  and  vigor  of  perpetual  youth.  It  is  always  new, 
because  it  has  always  the  power  to  awaken  new  life,  as  well 
as  to  bear  and  sustain  it.  In  its  latent  and  life-giving  power, 
we  liken  it  to  a  noble  vessel,  the  very  sight  of  which,  as  it 


278  THE  HYMNS  OF  THE  CHURCH.  [April, 

lies  calmly  in  port,  gives  us  the  sense  of  power  and  of  the 
capacity  of  movement,  but  which  only  properly  enlivens  as 
it  bears  us  out  into  the  open  sea,  when  the  sails  are  lifted  and 
filled,  and  the  now  almost  living  structure  carries  us  onward 
as  if  it  were  all  and  we  nothing,  becoming,  at  the  same  time, 
more  and  more  a  thing  of  power  and  life,  as  well  as  of  beauty 
and  joy. 

No  truer  test  can  be  applied  to  a  hymn.  Does  it  get  old  ? 
Does  it  weary  ?  Does  it  ever  seem  common  to  us  ?  Then  it 
is  not  a  true  hymn.  The  truly  classic  always  bears  acquaint- 
ance ;  and  it  does  this  alike  to  all  classes  of  minds  and  hearts. 
A  classic  painting,  for  instance,  the  child,  the  ignorant,  and  the 
amateur  all  admire.  Those  feel  its  power  and  beauty  who 
cannot  tell  why.  As  a  work  of  art  it  grows  on  us  instead  of 
becoming  tiresome  and  common.  It  is  just  so  in  architecture. 
How  brief  is  the  pleasure  that  results  from  the  contemplation 
of  filigree  work.  How  soon  the  taste  tires  of  carved  wreaths, 
vines,  and  flowers.  As  these  are  transient  in  their  nature,  so 
are  they  transient  in  taste.  But  who  tires  of  the  arch,  the 
dome,  the  pillar,  the  column,  the  scroll,  the  alcove,  the  panel? 
These  are  classic  forms.  They  do  not  grow  old  through  the 
ages ;  and  they  please  the  boy  even  as  they  do  the  man,  the 
ignorant  as  well  as  the  most  cultivated  scientific  taste.  One 
may  see  more  in  them  than  another,  but  all  alike  see  in  them 
beauty,  and  feel  their  power.  The  same  holds  true  of  hymns. 
Witness  the  short-lived  character  of  the  hosts  of  subjective 
spasm-hymns  that  come  vaporing  and  dancing  along  on  the 
popular  wave  of  a  languid  sentimentality.  They  are  as  nose- 
gays, that  intoxicate  for  a  moment  a  feeble  and  sickly  taste. 
They  are  generaly  married  to  music  as  ephemeral  as  they  are 
themselves.  The  church  has  at  present  a  subtle  and  therefore 
formidable  enemy  in  this  superficial  hymnodical  and  musical 
taste.  Our  Sunday  schools  are  sorely  afflicted  by  it,  and  it  is 
entailing  upon  the  young  a  deep  and  lasting  injury.  It  is  the 
same  evil  taste,  which,  in  the  days  of  Gregory,  well-nigh  pro- 
faned the  entire  Christian  worships.  Popular  convivial  tunes 
were  introduced,  and  sang  to  parodied  words  with  a  galloping 
measure.  In  self-defence  the  Gregorian  chant  was  introduced, 
and  by  its  classic  power  the  popular  taste  was  gradually 
changed  ;  and  these  rude  hordes  of  "  twaddling  rhymes,  set  to 
frisking  tunes"  were  lashed  out  of  the  temple  of  God.  In  the 
period  of  the  Reformation  the  same  tendency  manifested  itself.* 

*  Tim  use  of  this  class  of  hymns  is  regarded  by  some  as  justified  by  the  au- 
thority of  Scripture.  (Eph.  v.  19,  Col.  iii.  6.)  This  last  passage,  taken  as  it 
stands  in  our  translation,  would  seem  to  designate  mutual  teaching  and  admo 


1865.]  THE   HYMNS   OP   THE    CHURCH.  279 

The  evil  was  remedied  by  the  triumph  of  the  solid,  solemn 
German  chorals.  The  old  trouble  has  in  our  time  again  ap- 
pealed on  the  stage,  and  is  jubilating  through  the  land,  treat- 
ing the  unstable  taste  to  new  variations  in  hymn  and  tune  at 
every  change  of  the  moon.  If  no  new  remedies  for  this  false 
taste  can  be  discovered,  perhaps  those  which  were  effective  in 
other  ages  would  still  prove  themselves  adequate. 

A  correct  hymnological  taste,  based  on  a  true  conception  of 
Christian  worship,  must  exclude  from  public  use  in  worship 
all  compositions  that  belong prevailingly  to  the  following  classes  : 

1.  Mere  doctrinal  statement  of  truth,  however  correct. 
This  belongs  to  catechism  and  confession. 

2.  Poetry  directly  didactic.  This  belongs  to  the  pulpit,  and 
to  the  catechetical  and  Bible  class.* 

3.  Hymns  in  praise  of  virtues,  graces,  acts  of  worship,  the 
Sabbath,  Sunday  schools,  the  Bible.  Singing  is  worship,  and 
we  can  no  more  worship  these  than  we  can  worship  saints  or 
relics. 

4.  Mere  descriptions  of  religious  experiences,  feelings,  and 
emotions.  These  are  to  be  awakened  by  worshipping  God, 
not  by  singing  to  them,  or  of  them. 

5.  Sentimental  poems.  The^se  have  their  appropriate  place 
in  other  circumstances  and  circles  of  social  life. 

15.  Descriptions  of  particular  sins,  or  classes  of  sinners.  This 
belongs  to  the  sermon. 

7.  Compositions  addressed  to  sinners  with  the  view  of 
alarming,  instructing,  or  exhorting  them.  This  also  belongs 
to  the  sermon.     Singing  to  sinners  !     Why  not  rather  to  saints  ? 

uition  ;is  the  proper  purpose  of  psa!m3,  hymns,  and  spiritual  sonsrs.  But  a 
different  punctuation  of  the  '  ireek  gives  the  passage  another  sense.  Conybeare 
and  How^oo,  in  the'-  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,"  adopting  the  punctuation 
of  Ti-chendorf,  render  the  passage  thus  :  '•  Let  the  word  of  Christ  dwell  in  you 
richly  ;  teach  and  admonish  one  another  in  all  wisdom.  Let  your  singing  be  of 
psalms,  and  hymns,  and  spiritual  songs,  sung  in  thanksgiving,  with  your  heart 
unto  God.''  in  their  comments  on  the  corresponding  passage,  (Eph.  v.  1!).) 
where  a  similar  punctuation  is  followed,  the  most  satisfact  >ry  reasons  for  this* 
rend  ring,  based  on  the  context  and  scope,  are  given.  On  Col.  iii.  1C.  I  r.  Clark 
say3  :  •■Through  bad  pointing  this  verse  is  not  very  intelligible ;  the  several 
members  should  be  distinguished  thus  :  '•  Let  the  doctrine  of  Christ  dwell  richly 
among  you  ;  teaching  and  admonishing  each  other  in  all  wisdom  ;  singing,  with 
grace  in  your  hearts,  unto  the  Lord,  in  psalms,  hymns,  and  spiritual  songs.  This 
arrangement  the  original  will  not.  only  bear,  but  it  absolutely  requires  it." 
Thus,  neither  of  these  passages  does  in  fact  bear  any  witness  against  the  test  of 
the  true  hymn  which  we  have  presented.  But  without  even  resortiug  to  this 
rendering  of  thepas^ages  in  h  md.  it  may  be  remarked,  that  Christians  may  mu- 
tually teach  and  admonish  one  another  by  the  use  of  a  hymn  that  is  neither 
directly  didactic  nor  hortatory,  even  as  they  may  do  the  same  by  devoutly  offer- 
ing together  the  Lord's  Prayer,  which  is  wholly  devotional,  and  which  becomes 
edifying  in  the  way  of  teaching  and  hortation  only  indirectly. 
*  See  Dr.  Ait,  I)er  Christliche  Cultus,  pp.  443  444. 


280  THE    HYMNS    OF   THE    CHURCH.  [April, 

8.  Compositions  expressive  of  morbid  feelings,  of  doubt,  de- 
spondency, discouragement,  and  "sorrow  of  the  world."  This 
is  not  a  penitential  exercise,  neither  docs  it  awaken  that  sense. 
It  is  in  idling  but  a  sinful  feeling  of  unbelief. 

9.  Compositions  telling  what  we  have  done,  are  doing,  or 
intend  to  do.  This,  if  it  does  not  actually  fall  into  the  sphere 
of  vain  boasting  and  bravado,  belongs  to  the  sphere  of  confes- 
sion or  profession,  and  is  appropriate  in  another  place. 

10.  ,  Compositions  for  self-examination.  Turning  the 
thoughts  on  one's  self  is  not  worship,  but  only  a  preparation  for 
it.  The  helps  to  self-examination  are  properly  furnished  by  the 
sermon,  or  are  found  in  manuals  of  devotion  for  Christians,  the 
use  of  which  belongs  to  the  retirement  of  the  closet. 

11.  Compositions  so  directly  and  formally  referring  to,  and 
descriptive  of,  special  occasions  as  to  turn  the  mind  more  to 
the  occasion  and  the  circumstances,  than  to  the' true  object  of 
worship.  This  is  a  defect  which  characterizes  by  far  the 
largest  number  of  hymns  intended  for  anniversaries,  national 
holidays,  meetings  of  reform  societies,  and  occasional  celebra- 
tions of  various  kinds. 

It  is  because  a  degenerate  taste  has  failed  to  apply  the 
true  tests  to  the  hymn,  that  ous  hymn  books  are  overburdened 
with  compositions  that  are  never  sung.  Let  anyone  take  only 
the  tests  which  we  have  given,  and  honestly  classify  under 
them  the  contents  of  our  hymn  books,  and  he  will  be  surprised 
to  find  how  small  a  number  is  left.  Indeed  this  is  virtually 
done,  though  in  an  unconscious  way.  by  those  whose  duty  it  is 
to  select  hymns  to  be  sung  in  assemblies  for  public  worship. 
To  test  the  truth  of  this  remark,  let  any  pastor  who  has  at  all 
cultivated  a  hymnological  taste,  mark  all  the  hymns  which  he 
uses  any  one  year,  and  he  will  find  at  the  end  of  the  year  that 
not  one  hundred,  perhaps  not  fifty  are  marked  as  having  been 
used.  He  will  discover  that  the  same  hymn  has  been  sung 
many  times :  and  that  an  unconscious  criticism,  an  instinct  of 
good  pious  taste,  has  silently  ignored  the  large  mass  contained 
in  the  book  as  not  adapted  to  the  purposes  of  public  wor- 
ship. Yet  this  vast  amount  of  mere  poetry — it  is  often  not 
even  that — is  earned  along  in  our  hymn  books,  the  closing  one 
being  numbered  somewhere  between  one  and  two  thousand  ! 
We  doubt  much  whether  two  hundred  hymns,  worthy  of  that 
name,  and  truly  adapted  to  the  uses  of  public  worship,  can  be 
found  in  the  English  language,  or  in  any,  or  in  all  languages 
on  earth.  Sure  we  are  that  the  pious  taste  of  Christians  gen- 
erally does  not  in  fact  recognize  even  that  number,  by  feeling 
itself  truly  at  home  in  the  devotional  use  of  them.     Where  is 


1865.]  THE   DYMXS   OF   THE   CHURCH.  281 

the  Christian,  the  congregation,  or  even  the  denomination,  that 
has  two  hundred  of  what  are  generally  called  favorite  hymns  ? 
There  are  few  universal  favorites,  because  there  are  few  that 
truly  satisfy  the  universal  Christian  consciousness.  The  rest 
that  make  up  the  hundreds  in  our  hymn  books  are  poems,  of 
more  or  less  merit,  put  into  their  places  under  the  erroneous 
idea  that  there  must  be  hymns  "  adapted  to  subjects"  instead 
of  being-  adapted  to  the  worship  of  God.  Hence,  the  table  of 
contents  of  our  hymn  books  would  generally  answer  just  as 
well  as  a  table  of  contents  for  a  system  of  theology  ;  and  were 
it  not  that  a  hundred  or  more  true  hymns,  the  favorites  of  the 
ages,  are  scattered  through  the  book,  it  would  answer  in  fact 
as  a  scientifically  arranged  theological  system  in  verse. 

In  our  hymn  books  for  children  and  youths,  as  used  in  Sun- 
day schools,  the  tests  of  the  true  hymn  are  still  more  frequent- 
ly disregarded,  under  the  erroneous  idea  that  by  such  means  a 
more  practical  influence  may  be  exerted.  The  didactic,  hortatoi  y, 
biographical,  and  eulogistic  features  prevail  in  these  collections. 
All  manner  of  lessons  are  taught,  all  manner  of  motives  are 
presented  to  the  child  ;  forgetting  altogether  that  in  the  spirit  of 
a  child,  as  also  in  the  devotional  spirit  of  the  adult  Christian, 
the  heart  and  not  the  intellect  prevails.  The  ruling  idea  in  these 
collections  seems  to  be  to  secure  what  is  called  adaptation — 
not,  however,  adaptation  of  the  hymn  to  the  true  idea  of  the 
worship  of  God,  but  adaptation  of  the  hymn  to  the  child. 
The  hymn  is  to  effect  something  for  the  child — to  instruct  it, 
warn  it ;  in  short,  in  its  influence  and  use  it  is  to  terminate  on 
the  child  rather  than  to  be  the  help  and  channel  of  its  devo- 
tions offered  unto  God. 

The  same  mistaken  zeal  for  practical  adaptation,  is  also 
responsible  for  the  fact  that  so  large  a  number  of  hymns  for 
children  are  childish  instead  of  childlike.  True  piety  is  child- 
like. Hymns  that  express  faith,  hope,  love— directing  the 
whole  heart  and  mind  toward  the  great  atonement  and  media- 
tion of  Christ — when  clothed  in  simple,  chaste,  and  tasteful 
language,  are  much  better  adapted  to  the  childlike  than  any 
puerile  attempts  to  address  the  mind  of  the  child  by  the  use 
of  words  and  phrases,  in  which  the  sublime  is  so  easily  made 
ridiculous,  and  the  solemn  comes  uncomfortably  near  the  ludi- 
crous. 

Hymns  for  children  are  never  adapted  to  their  true  needs, 
when  they  are  such  as  they  must  outgrow.  The  true  hymn  for 
a  child  must  be  in  spirit  and  contents  as  suitable  for  the  future 
adult  as  to  the  present  child.  By  this  it  is  not  denied  that 
nursery  rhymes  have  their  mission  ;  but  as  they  have  their 


282  THE   HYMN'S   OF   THE   CHORCH.  [April, 

use  so  they  have  also  their  appropriate  place.  The  childish 
the  child  will  outgrow,  hut  the  childlike  it  ought  never  to 
leave  behind.  The  associations  of  childhood  with  the  true 
hymn,  give  a  savor  and  a  power  to  it  in  after-life  which  it  can 
have  in  no  other  way.  Why  give  the  children  hymns  to  be 
interwoven  with  their  memories  and  sacred  associations,  which 
in  later  life  they  must  regard  in  the  same  light,  as  they  then 
do  their  toys— the  mere  fossils  of  a  period  forever  left  behind? 
The  hymns  which  they  learn  to  love  in  childhood  ought  to  be 
the  same  as  those  which  shall  best  express  their  devotions  amid 
the  buoyancy  of  youth,  the  earnestness  of  middle  life,  and  the 
decline  of  old  age, 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  the  heart  of  a  child  apprehending, 
and  being  apprehended,  by  a  hymn  which  its  mind  may  not 
full)'  comprehend  ;  like  as  a  seed  finds  the  soil  adapted  to  all 
its  infant  needs,  even  though  it  has  not  yet  tested,  and  can  not 
now  appropriate  all  the  powers  that  lie  in  that  same  soil  for 
use.  We  are  fully  convinced  that  those  are  the  best  hymns 
for  children  which  have  the  highest  unction  of  devotion,  and 
the  least  of  puerile  adaptation  to  the  mere  intellect  of  the  child  ; 
and  it  is  by  no  means  necessary  that  hymns,  to  be  suitable  to 
their  wants,  should  be  on  a  level  with  their  understandings. 
Were  this  a  necessity,  could  we  regard  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the 
Apostles'  Creed,  the  Decalogue,  as  adapted  to  children,  and 
•could  it  be  regarded  proper  to  induce  them  to  commit  them 
to  memory  in  early  life  ?  Yea,  is  not  the  Bible,  the  very  best 
book  for  children,  full  of  mysteries  and  truths  that  lie  fairly 
beyond  their  early  capacities  ?  Does  not  also  common  obser- 
vation teach  us  a  lesson  on  this  point  ?  Let  it  be  noticed 
whether  children  from  eight  to  twelve  years  old  are  not  most 
fond  of  those  classic  hymns  which  move  in  a  high  inspiration 
— which  are  not  only  tar  removed  in  their  contents,  spirit,  and 
Language  from  the  simplicity  of  nursery  rhymes,  but  which 
ure  even  lofty  in  their  style,  and  full  of  sublime  adoration, 
awakened  by  the  deepest  mysteries  of  faith.  Spiritually, 
even  as  naturally,  children  love  the  sublime,  and  stand  gazing 
entranced  into  a  flood  of  glory,  without  ever  asking  themselves 
whether  they  understand,  it.  The  unction  carries  them  with 
it  ;  and  the  impression  made  lies  in  the  heart,  like  the  seed  in 
the  soil,  to  be  revealed  in  due  time. 

Let  the  question  be  earnestly  considered,  whether  great  and 
lasting  injury  is  not  done  to  children  by  excluding  from  their 
hymn  books  the  lofty  hymns  of  tlie  church,  and  giving  them 
instead,  the  tame,  simple,  didactic  rhymes — lessons  in  verse 
— which  are  so  generally  found  to  constitute  the  main  body  of 


1865.]  SCHELLING   ON  THE    CHURCH.  283 

Sunday-school  hymn  books.  We  would  yet  add,  why  not, 
also,  with  the  better  hymns,  give  them  also  the  better  tunes? 
Why  is  the  chant  excluded  so  generally  from  books  for  chil- 
dren, in  favor  of  a  shallow,  ephemeral,  and  rollicking  kind  of 
music?  We  speak  from  experience,  and  actual  trial  in  what 
we  are  about  to  say.  Children  love  chants  wherever  they  are 
taught  to  sing  them,  and  they  learn  them  most  readily.  They 
afford  room  for  the  free,  wild  warblings  of  childhood  ;  and  yet 
they  maintain  the  dignity  and  solemnity  which  belong  to  di- 
vine worship.  Whoever  has  had  much  to  do  with  the  instruc- 
tion of  children  knows  bow  fondly  theycatch  up  the  galloping 
glee  tunes  adapted — sometimes  literally  adapted — from  the 
convivial  and  sentimental  song-airs,  with  frolicking  choruses 
attached.  There  is  in  children  a  fondness  for  tunes  of  free 
and  lively  movement ;  the}'  want  the  chant,  and  when  this  is 
not  furnished  them,  they  will  catch  up  those  frivolous  airs 
referred  to,  and  thus  gradually  lose  all  taste  for  the  graver 
and  more  solid  and  solemn  metrical  tunes.  When  the  chant 
is  offered,  they  love  it  ;  and  when  learned,  they  need  never 
unlearn  it  ;  since  the  chant,  as  it  is  admirably  suited  to  the 
free,  joyous  simplicity  of  childhood's  taste,  so  also  is  it  ade- 
quate to  give  expression  to  the  loftiest  and  sublimest  worship 
to  which  the  ripest  tastes  of  adult  age  can  attain. 


Art.   VII.— SCHELLING  ON  TIIE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  DIF- 
FERENT CHRISTIAN   CHURCHES. 

[Schelling's  general  outline  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
main  branches  of  the  Christian  Church  is  well  known.  He 
compared  the  Church  of  Rome  to  Peter  ;  the  Church  of  the 
Reformation  to  Paul  ;  while  the  Church  of  the  Future  was  to 
be  animated  by  the  spirit  of  John.  In  Der  Gedanke,  (The 
Thought,)  1864,  a  philosophical  periodical  representing  the 
Hegelian  school,  there  is  a  report  of  an  interesting  discussion, 
occasioned  by  an  account  which  Professor  Leopold  Von  Pfen- 
ning gave  of  an  interview  he  had  with  Schelling  on  this  sub- 
ject. Some  striking  points  of  view,  for  forming  a  philosoph- 
ical estimate  of  the  different  periods  and  characteristics  of 
church  history  jare  brought  forward  in  this  discussion,  which 
was  held  at  a  session  of  the  Philosophical  Society  at  Berlin  ; 
several  members,  representing  different  tendencies,   taking 


284  SCHELLING   ON   THE   CHARACTERISTICS   OF  [April, 

f>art  in  the  debate.  Professor  Von  Henning  has  taught  phi- 
osophy  for  along  time  at  Berlin.  He  was  born  in  Gotha, 
Oct.  4,  1791.  In  1824  he  published  a  work  on  the  Principles 
of  Ethics  in  their  Historical  Development.  He  edited  the  Ber- 
lin Annals  for  Scientific  Criticism  from  1827  to  1844.  He  also 
edited  Hegel's  Lectures  in  the  first  part  of  his  Encyclopedia, 
comprising  logic.  He  belongs  to  the  right  wing  of  the  He- 
gelian school.  Professor  Michelet  is  the  president  of  the 
above-named  Philosophical  Society.  He  was  born  in  Berlin, 
Dec.  4,  1801,  and  is  the  most  zealous  representative  of  the 
extreme  left  side  of  the  Hegelians,  carrying  pantheism  to  its 
extremes.  He  is  also  one  of  the  most  prolific  writers  of  the 
school  ;  the  author  of  the  History  of  Philosophy  in  Germany, 
from  Kant  to  Hegel,  two  vols.  1838  :  Schelling  and  Hegel, 
1839-1842  ;  Psychology,  1840  ;  of  several  works  on  Aristotle's 
Ethics  ;  of  a  General  History  from  1775  to  1 859,  etc.  Another 
of  the  speakers  in  this  discussion,  Max  Schasler,  is  a  private 
teacher  at  Berlin,  and  editor  of  the  Dioscuren,  a  journal  de- 
voted to  aesthetic  subjects.    Eds.] 

Von  Henning.  Some  months  since,  in  giving  a  short  ac- 
count to  this  Society  of  the  new  collected  edition  of  Schel- 
ling's  works,  I  alluded  to  the  fact  that  he  had  often  been 
reproached  for  the  abrupt  way  in  which  he  set  aside  all 
objections  to  his  doctrines,  and  rem  irked  that,  so  far  as  my 
personal  intercourse  was  concerned,  this  reproach  was  without 
foundation.  To  illustrate  this,  I  mentioned  a  conversation 
which  I  had  with  Schelling  about  his  speculations  on  the  dif- 
ferent characteristics  of  the  leading  branches  of  the  church  ; 
and  now,  in  compliance  with  the  desire  then  expressed,  I  am 
happy  to  give  a  fuller  account  of  the  substance  of  that  con- 
versation. 

Let  me  remind  you  that  Schelling,  in  his  Lectures  on  the 
Philosophy  of  Revelation,  represents  Christianity  as  the  union 
and  the  truth  of  Judaism  an  i  heathenism  (and  this,  rightly 
understood,  with  good  reason);  and  then,  within  Christianity, 
he  makes  a  broad  distinction  only  between  the  Catholic  and 
the  Evangelical  confessions:  the  former,  with  Peter  at  the 
head,  he  considers  as  representing  the  Jewish  principle  ; 
and  the  latter,  with  Paul  at  the  head,  as  representing  the 
heathen  principle  in  the  Christian  church.  [The  word 
heathen  is  here  used,  not  in  reference  to  the  religions  of  the 
Gentile  nations,  but  in  a  general,  historical  sense.]  I  would 
also  call  to  mind,  that  our  philosopher  speaks  of  another,  a 
third  Christian  church,  which  he  names  the  Church  of  the 
Future,  and  at  whose  head  he  puts  the  apostle  John. 


American   fresMeriau    anb    Ijicolagital    Jltfriek 

NUMBER   X  . 

CONTENTS  OF  THE  APRIL  NUMBER,  1865. 


Page. 

Art.  I.     THE  WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY 179 

By  Philip  Sciiaff,  D.  D. 

H.     THE  MESSIAH'S  SECOND  ADVENT 195 

By  Edwin  F.  Hatfield,  D.  D.,  New  York  City. 

III.  MISSIONARY   INTERFERENCE   AT    THE    HAWAIIAN 

ISLANDS 227 

IV.  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH...   245 

By  George  Sidney  Camp,  Esq.,  Owego,  N.  Y. 

V.     QUEEN  CANDACE  :     Acts  viii.  27 261 

By  J.  C.  M.  Laurent. 

VI.     THE  HYMNS  OF   THE  CHURCH 266 

By  Henry  Harbaugii,  D.  D.,  Mercersburg,  Pa. 
VII.     SCHELLING  ON  THE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  DIF- 
FERENT CHRISTIAN  CHURCHES 283 

Vm.     DUNS  SCOTUS,  AS  A  THEOLOGIAN  AND  PHILOSOPHER  289 
By  Dr.  J.  E.  Erdmann,  Prof,  of  Philosophy  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Halle. 

IX.     EXEGESIS  OF  ROM.  ii.  18,  AND  PHIL,  ii,  10 308 

By  Rev.  F.  A.  Adams,  Orange,  N.  J. 

X.    CRITICISMS  ON  BOOKS 311 

Theology  :  Bishop  Ellicott's  Commentaries — Expository  Lec- 
tures on  Heidelberg  Catechism — Guizot's  Medi- 
tations     311 

History  ajjd  Biography  :  Neander's  Planting  and  Training  of 
the  Christian  Church — Dr.  Stevens'  History  of  the 
Methodist  Chinch — The  Semitic  and  Indo-Ger- 
manic  Races— Dean  Milman's  History  of  the  Jews  ^ 
— Autobiography  of  Lyman  Beecher — Merivale's 
History  of  the  Romans.  314 

General  Literature  :  Deutsche  Ueberseizung  der  Zendbiicher 
— Muller's  Lectures  on  the  Science  of  Language  — 
Wilson's  Treatise  on  the  History  and  Structure  of 
Language — Wet  DaysatEdgwood — The  Culture  of 
the  Observing  Faculties— Hooker's  Science  for  the 

School  and  Family — Oh,  Mother  Dear,  Jerusalem 

Tony  Butler — Our  Mutual  Friend — Vanity  Fair 


CONTENTS  OF  APRIL  NUMBEB,  (CONTINUED). 

Page. 

The  Perpetual  Curate — Mattie — My  Brother's  Wife 

— Knox's  System  of  Sunday-School  Instruction.. .   317 

Miscellany  :  Dr.  Hodge's  Inaugural  Address— Dr.  Canfield  on 
the  American  Crisis — Mr.  Maund's  Address — 
Mr.  Demming's  Thanksgiving  Sermon 323 

XI.    THEOLOGICAL  AND  LITERARY  INTELLIGENCE 323 

Scandinavia 323 

Switzerland 324 

Italy i 324 

Spain  and  Portugal 325 

Germany 325 

France 327 

England 328 

United  States  of  America 332 

Xn.     ECCLESIASTICAL  RECORD 334 

By  E.  F.  Hatfield,  D.  D. 


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PUBLISHER. 
April  1,  1865. 


Vol.  3.  New  Series.  No.  10. 


THE 


\ 


AMERICAN 


PRESBYTERIAN  and  THEOLOGICAL 


REVIEW. 


EDITORS: 

HENRY     B.     SMITH     AND    J.    M.    SHERWOOD. 

Associate  Editon: 

ALBERT   BARNES,         i 

THOMAS  BRAINERD.  r  Philadelphia. 

hUsWELL    D.    HITCHCOCK,    Union  Theological  Seminary,  N.  Y. 
JONATHAN    B.  CONDIT,  Auburn  Theological  Seminary.  N.  Y. 
GEORGE   E.   DAY,  Dane  Theological  Seminary,    Cincinnati,  O. 


APRIL  1865. 


NEW-YORK. : 
J.     M.     SHERWOOD       No.     5     BKKKMAN     STRHKT. 

PHILADELPHIA: 

PRESBYTERIAN    BOOKSTORE,   1334    CHESTNUT   8TREET. 

Lokdok:   TRUBNER  k  CO.      Edikbceob  :   OGLE  k  MURRAY. 


THE  MOST  COMPREHENSIVE 

AND 

IMPORTANT  BIBLICAL  WORK  OF  THE  AGE. 

langS^commentary. 

In  the  short  space  of  three  months,  we  have  sold  nearly  three  editions  of  this  work  and 
will  soon  have  ready  the 

4th  EDITION. 

We  have  received  many  favorable  testimonials  from  our  most  eminent  divines— as  well 
as  from  the  Religious  Press  of  all  evangelical  denominations,  und  herewith  furnish  extracts 
from  a  few  of  the  leading  papers  of  the 

EPISCOPAL— METHODIST— PRESBYTERIAN— BAPTIST— CONGREGATIONAL- 
LUTHERAN—  DUTCH  REFORMED,  Etc. 
A  COMMENTARY  OX  THE.  HOLY  SCRIPTURES. 

Critical,  Poctrina,  and  Homiletical ,  by  John  P.  Lange,  I).D. ,  in  connection  with  a  number  of  eminent  European 
divines.     Translated  from  the  German,  and  edited,  with  additions,  original  and  selected   bv  Philip  Schajf  DD 
in  connection  with  American  divines  ot  various  evangelical  denominations.     Volume'lst  containim:  a  eenera'l 
Introduction  and  the  Gospel  according  to  Matthew.     Price  $5.  '  cuulaIum6  a  general 

The  American  edition  is  undertaken  by  an  association  of  well-known  scholars  from  the  leading  evangelical 
denominations  of  this  country,  under  the  editorial  care  and  responsibility  of  Dr  Schan"  of  New  York  and  with 
the  full  approbation  of  Dr.  Lange.  It  gives  the  original  entire,  without  omission  or  alteration,  and  at  tho  same 
time  valuable  additions,  which  give  tho  work  an  Anglo-German  character,  and  make  it  more  useful  to  tho  En«- 
lish  reader.  • 

The  first  volume  contains  one-fourth  moro  matter  than  tho  original,  other  volumes  of  the  Commentary  are 
already  in  course  of  preparation  by  the  editor,  and  Rev.  Drs. 

SHEDS,  LILUE,  TEOMANS,  STARBUCK 

SCHAFFER,  HACKET,  KENDRIOK  mv        ' 

POOR,  TAYLOR,  MOMBERT,  LEWIS. 

Other  eminent  Biblical  scholars  and  experienced  translators  will  bo  engaged  as  fast  as  Is  desirable  to  complete 
the  work. 

Each  volume  will  contain  one  or  more  Books,  end  thus  lx>  complete  In  itself. 

FROM  THE  EPISCOPAL  PRESS. 
From  the  Episcopal  Recorder  : 


Unique  as  to  design,  logical  at  to  arrangement,  sugges- 
tive as  to  treitment,  select  as  to  matter,  evangelical 
and  catholic  as  to  theology,  accurate  as  to  scholarship, 
interesting  as  to  style,  it  is  the  very  beau  ideal  of  a 
clergyman's  commentary,  and  we  predict  for  it  the 
most  extensive  circulation.  It  possesses  every  feature 
to  render  it  indispensable  to  tho  earnest  minister. 

FROM  THE  METHODIST  PRESS. 
The  New  York  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal  : 

At  a  contribution  to  the  richest  and  most  abounding 
literature,  we  place  it  among  the  best.  Nostudentof  the 
•acred  page  will  fall  to  find  great  food  for  thought  in  its 
prolific  columns.  Its  piety  is  6imple  and  fervent ;  its 
orthodoxy  high  and  unquestioned  ;  its  learning  profuse 
and  accurate  ;  its  ideas  novel  and  lofty.  No  work  so 
thorough  and  original  has  been  lately  laid  before 
American  roaders. 

FROM  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  PRESS. 
The  American  Theological  Review  for  January,  1865. 

We  welcome  this  commentary,  upon  the  whole  the 
best  6ingle  exposition  that  can  be  found,  comprising  all 
that  is  esssential  to  a  thorough,  popular,  and  useful 
work.  It  treats  the  Bible  as  an  inspired  book  ;  yet  it 
Is  also  critical,  meeting  and  not  giving  the  slip  to  diffi- 
cult questions.  For  textual  criticism  it  affords  ample 
means.  Its  exegesis  is  concise  and  pertinent.  The 
doctrinal  and  homiletical  parts  are  handled  effectively. 
It  is  not  sectarian,  but  adapted  fer  use  in  all  denomina- 
tions. Those  who  may,  here  and  there,  differ  from  it. 
will  not  complain  that  it  is  wanting  in  either  candor  or 
learning.  This  edition  is  not  only  much  superior  to  the 
Edinbuigh,  but  it  also  surpasses  the  German. 
The  American  Pr.sbyterian: 

In  plan  and  in  execution  this  Commentary  exceeds 
any  that  have  ever  appeared.  More  than  a  hundred 
years  ago  a  work  on  a  similar  plan  was  executed  by  a 
learned  German,  named  Starke,  but  this  of  Lange's 
exceeds  it  in  genius  and  geniality,  besides  having  far 
richer  stores  of  material  from  which  to  draw.  .  .  . 
It  may  be  regarded  as  a  lucidly  composed  and  arranged 
Cyclopedia  of  exegetical.  doctrinal,  and  hopjiletical 
theology.  A  thorough  acquaintance  with  it  might  well 
be  accepted  as  a  sufficient  preparation  for  the  regular 
work  of  the  pastoral  office. 


Price  of  this  volume,  $5. 
FROM  THE  BAPTIST  PRESS. 
The  Watchman  and  Reflt:tor : 


We  can  only  call  altentiou  at  present  to  this  magnifi- 
cent Commentary.  This  volume  on  Matthew  is  admir- 
ably done,  an  immeasurable  advance  on  any  coram -n 
tary  which  has  preceded  it.  It  will  give  a  new  impulse 
to  Biblical  study  ,and  bo  an  invaluable  help  to  all  lovers 
of  the  Biblo. 

The  National  Baptitt  says  : 

An  Invaluable  addition  to  our  Theological  literature. 

FROM  THE  CONGREGATIONAL  PRESS. 

The  New  York  Independent  says  : 

There  Is  on  every  page  evidence  of  the  fullest  reading 
and  exactest  thought.  Every  clergyman  and  teacher 
and  student  of  the  work  will  seek  its  pages,  and  the 
book  should  be  on  every  Christian's  shelf. 

THE  LUTHERAN  AND  DUTCH  REFORMED  PRESS. 
The  Luth    an  Obterver  says  : 

This  is  the  greatest  literary  enterprise  •<..  tho  kind 
undertaken  in  the  present  century.  Necessity  demand- 
ed that  tho  fruits  of  these  immense  labors  should  be 
gathered  and  condensed  in  some  practical  form.  A  new 
comprehensive  commentary  combining  scientific  accu- 
racy with  popular  clearness,  a  work  that  should  brinf 
to  the  minister  the  choice  results  of  the  half  century's 
investigations,  was  demanded.  .  ,  .  The  volume  on 
Matthew,  the  initial,  specimen  volume,  performs  even 
more  than  the  foregoing  outline  promises.  .  .  .  We 
are  struck  with  the  fullness  of  tho  work  ;  every  inquiry 
is  answered  ;  on  every  point  on  which  information  is 
wanted,  we  are  met ;  and  over  and  above  the  questions 
with  which  we  come  there  floods  in  a  wealth  of  light 

that  fairly  inundates  the  subject 

The  New  York  Christian  InteUigtnctr  says  : 

All  the  latest  trustworthy  discoveries  in  the  science 
of  interpretation  are  judiciously  employed  by  the  au- 
thors of  the  Commentary.  Yet  there  is  neither  prolixi- 
ty nor  diffuseness  in  the  treatment  of  any  portion  of  the 
sacred  text.  The  immense  resources  of  German  scholar- 
ship have  been  freely  used,  but  in  the  truly  evangelical 
way.  The  theories  and  speculations  of  German  rational- 
ism find  no  place  here. 


Copies   sent  by   mail,   post-paid,    on    receipt  of    $5,   by   the   publishers, 
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